Of course Orlando is older, but the character is somehow heavier and more serious here. Perhaps because he's home with all the worries of Mirkwood in his mind, but in LotR he's out in the wide world for the first time, and feeling adventurous because of it? But every word you say today Gets twisted 'round some other way And they'll hurt you if they think you've lied

and my thought was as well, what a character arc he will go through: *this* Legolas (insular?) saying there will never be a King under the Mountain...to the Legolas in TTT who, facing much more imminent peril, says "I was wrong to despair." Is there a Tolkien topic that you have wanted to look into more deeply, and write about your thoughts on it? If so, we'd like to hear from you for the next TORn Amateur Symposium- coming in November. Happy writing!

Legolas might be one of the benefactors of expanded movie verse
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If his character arc indeed is what you said, it'll be more interesting than just what he got in LotR. But every word you say today Gets twisted 'round some other way And they'll hurt you if they think you've lied

The awesome music at that moment didn't hurt! "I had forgotten that. It is hard to be sure of anything among so many marvels. The world is all grown strange. Elf and Dwarf in company walk in our daily fields; and folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken in the long ages ere the fathers of our fathers rode into the Mark! How shall a man judge what to do in such times?"

"As he ever has judged. Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man's part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house."

... and is still under his father's thumb. He is still merely parroting is father's viewpoint, perpetuating the prejudice. It reminds me of the corrosive effects of Denethor on Boromir - another son carrying his father's narrow-minded attitudes out into life with them. It will be interesting to see how they move him towards becoming his own ... uh... elf. “Where there's life there's hope, and need of vittles.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Yikes. Just got home and downloaded the WB hi-res version. It is much brighter than the YouTube one and you can not only tell Legolas is holding on to and sliding down a web strand, you can see the spider at the end of it! And it is scary big.